


Communion

by julien (julie)



Series: A Cop and a Mountie [3]
Category: due South
Genre: Coming Out, Domestic Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 1996-01-01
Updated: 1996-01-01
Packaged: 2020-09-26 06:13:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20384983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/julie/pseuds/julien
Summary: Ray and Fraser take advantage of the Vecchio home being empty for the afternoon.





	Communion

**Author's Note:**

> **Notes:** I’m posting an edited version of this story… I’m cutting a scene in the middle that I felt strongly about at the time, but doesn’t age well. Indeed, I got some justifiable complaints about it back then, too. Given that it’s part of a series, though, I thought it was worth including the top and tail of the story for the sake of continuity. 
> 
> **First published:** 1 January 1996 in my zine Pure Maple Syrup

# Communion 

♦

‘We’re becoming frighteningly domestic,’ Ray Vecchio commented.

Benton Fraser smiled. His hands were busy amid suds and hot water and cutlery in the Vecchios’ kitchen sink. As was his habit, he scrubbed each fork, knife and spoon separately and thoroughly, as opposed to Ray’s practice of dashing a handful of cutlery through the water with more hope than care.

Ray waited until a few pieces had collected on the draining board before gathering them up and drying them. ‘I mean, look at us,’ he continued. ‘We’ve only been together for three months, but we do the washing up like we’ve known each other for fifty years. We’re so co-ordinated it’s scary.’

‘You always helped me wash up at my apartment if I cooked you dinner, even when we were friends. Isn’t it natural to fall into regular habits?’

‘I like the unstructured approach sometimes. You know, a bit of hit or miss, a taste of spontaneity, some – what do they call it? Risk management. Are you afraid of failure, Benny?’

‘On the contrary, Ray. Anything of the sort provides an ideal opportunity for learning and growing.’

Ray grinned. ‘God, the way you talk.’ They steadily worked their way through the plates and pots and pans. ‘I even kind of enjoy it, washing up with you. Must be some kind of bonding thing.’ He hurried on, ‘Can you believe this? Ma was only cooking Sunday lunch for the four of us – five of us,’ he corrected himself. ‘Sorry, Diefenbaker. You’d think she was feeding the entire Chicago PD _and_ the RCMP judging by the mess.’

‘It was a delicious meal, and your mother is well aware that we all have healthy appetites.’

‘Yeah. Yeah, we do. Do you think Dief would like to be outside? He could hang out in the back garden.’

‘Diefenbaker,’ Fraser said, directly facing the wolf. ‘Would you like to go outside for a time?’

It seemed the wolf was agreeable to this plan. Ray walked him out, poured him a fresh bowl of water, spent a few minutes patting him so Diefenbaker wouldn’t feel abandoned. And then, smiling in anticipation, Ray went to find Fraser.

Unbelievable. The fellow was under the kitchen sink now, doing something serious with the plumbing. He emerged, and proceeded to take the taps apart.

‘What are you doing?’

‘I noticed the tap was dripping, Ray. I thought I’d change the washers for you.’

‘Fraser. I didn’t invite you here this afternoon so you could fix things. At least, not inanimate things.’

‘Didn’t you?’ the man asked absently, concentrating on his task.

‘No. I knew Ma and Francesca were going out to the movies and for afternoon tea afterwards, I knew we’d have the place to ourselves for a few hours. I told you all this, Benny. What did you think I had planned?’

The taps were already being reassembled. ‘Wasn’t there a baseball game you wanted to watch?’

Ray stared at the fellow. Truly unbelievable. And then Fraser smiled at him, with a glint of humour in his eye, and Ray laughed. ‘You’re teasing me, Benton Fraser.’ He added, ‘Are you done here?’ 

‘Yes.’ Fraser closed the cupboard below the sink, washed his hands and dried them, then hung the towel neatly on its rail.

‘Good. Come on, lover, we haven’t been in a proper bed for ages.’ Ray led the way up the stairs to his room. ‘That cot of yours doesn’t count, and neither does your wall. As for the floor, don’t bother asking me to try that again in a hurry.’

‘We were on my bedroll, Ray. I find it quite sufficient for sleeping on.’

‘Yeah, right. Just remember that your bones carry more padding than mine.’

‘So they do,’ Fraser murmured. ‘My mistake.’ They were in Ray’s bedroom now – the Mountie took the cop into his arms, and ran his hands up Ray’s back as if to confirm that his ribs were indeed close to the surface.

They never seemed to tire of kissing. _And why should we?_ Ray thought. The Mountie’s mouth meeting his was as sweet and true and wild as it had been that first time. ‘God, I love you, Benny.’ They were undressing each other, moving haphazardly for the bed, kissing whenever possible. ‘I love you so damned much it hurts.’

Fraser didn’t reply, at least not verbally. He rarely said those three magic mundane words, but Ray trusted that the emotion was implicit in Fraser’s every contribution to their relationship. There had been a time, not so long ago, when Ray Vecchio simply didn’t have that much faith in anyone.

Still kissing like maddened creatures, the two of them naked now and deep in each other’s embrace. Fraser toppled Ray off balance, and they fell to lie on the bed, moving skin against skin in provoking syncopation.

‘Ray,’ the Mountie said in the middle of it, as he moved to lie over the cop.

Murmuring something enquiring in reply, Ray continued nibbling at Fraser’s earlobe, hands stroking his waist. He loved having the fellow’s weight moving strong against him, so hooked one leg over Fraser’s to encourage him to stay there.

‘Every time we make love in your bed,’ Fraser said between planting kisses wherever he could reach, ‘you say you have plans. You say there are things we can do here.’

‘Yeah…’ Ray stilled as Fraser shifted up onto his elbows and looked down at him.

‘Then you say you don’t want to shock me.’ 

‘Ah.’

‘And we end up doing the same things that we always do.’

‘Well, that’s not so strange, is it? Falling into regular habits, like you said. The simple things are wonderful when it’s you and me, Benny.’

‘They are wonderful, I agree. But I am curious, Ray, and I would like to experiment a little more. I am also conscious that you may become bored with what we do, given that you have far more experience than I do.’

‘_Far_ more? I was probably having you on. Don’t believe all that locker room talk, Fraser, most of it is wishful thinking. You know, I suspect Louie is actually a virgin.’

Fraser shifted again, lying on the bed now, but still up on an elbow and holding Ray in his arms. ‘I have observed that you seem restless sometimes when we make love, and I have concluded that you want things that you don’t ask for.’

‘Come on, Benny,’ Ray pleaded. ‘We’re really losing the mood here.’

‘Answer me this, Ray, and then we’ll work on rekindling the mood. What’s the most shocking act you can think of?’

Ray groaned. He knew exactly what he wanted, but there was no way he was going to say it. Meanwhile his imagination threw several tawdry compelling images at him. ‘Leave it be, Fraser.’

‘I’m afraid I need to insist.’

‘You don’t know what you’re asking.’ Silence for a time, and the embrace becoming cold. Ray pulled away, sat on the edge of the bed. He said, ‘Don’t do this, Benny.’

‘We intend to spend our lifetimes together,’ the Mountie explained. He was still lying there on his side, and his voice was reasonable. ‘If that means another forty or fifty years of making love, I need to ensure that you don’t grow bored with me. I believe there are already things you want to do that you won’t ask for. If so, how am I supposed to keep you satisfied for decades by the simple things we do now, wonderful though they are?’

‘If there is a problem,’ Ray said, throat hurting with the strain of saying it, ‘it’s mine and not yours.’

‘No, it’s _our_ problem, Ray. That’s the only way this will work.’

‘If I’ve fallen in love with a man who’s simple in his tastes, who’s –’ How the Hell could he get this idea across? ‘Who’s clean and impeccable and proper in everything he does. It’s my problem.’

‘I’m not so clean,’ Fraser claimed in an easy tone. ‘Tell me the dirtiest and most shocking act you can think of. We don’t have to do it right now. Just talk to me about it, Ray.’

Silence. Maybe if he just spat it out, Fraser would be disgusted enough to leave it be. Maybe they could get on with the simple things, and none of this filth would cling to the good stuff, to their love, to Fraser’s innocence. ‘All right,’ Ray said. ‘I’ve been wanting you to fuck me.’

No immediate response.

‘I’ve been wanting –’ He’d intended to use all the cruel words for it, but they jammed in his throat.

‘Shouldn’t we build up to that?’ Fraser asked. ‘I understood that we should prepare for that, over a period of some weeks.’

Ray slowly turned his head to look at the fellow. ‘I beg your pardon?’

‘I’ve been doing some research, and –’

‘Research?’ Ray asked carefully.

‘Yes, I bought a copy of _The Joy of Gay Sex_. I admit that I haven’t read it all, but it seemed to be a wise investment.’

Fascinating. … 

♦

… It was on his way back from the bathroom that Ray heard something alarming. The front door opened, there were two sets of footsteps, and then the door closed again. Ray grimaced, and padded barefoot over to the top of the stairs so he could look down into the foyer. ‘Oh God,’ he muttered. Then, loudly enough to carry back to the bedroom, Ray cried, ‘Ma! Francesca. You’re back early.’

‘Hello, Raymond. The movie we wanted to see wasn’t on,’ his mother was grumbling as she dealt with her coat and bag. ‘We tried something else, I can’t even remember its name, but it wasn’t very – Why are you in your bathrobe, _caro_?’

He had reached the bottom of the stairs by then. ‘Ah. Did you miss out on afternoon tea? I’ll make you a cup of coffee.’

Francesca and his mother were watching him in confusion, but Ray walked coolly past. By the time he had the coffee measured out into the filter, they had joined him in the kitchen.

Ray asked, ‘So what did you end up seeing? You must have left before it finished.’

His sister was beginning to draw some conclusions, which were soon confirmed by the rustle of Fraser quickly dressing and moving around overhead. She stared at Ray, speculatively, and bit her lower lip. Whether this was in envy or vexation, Ray had no idea.

Ma Vecchio was saying, ‘I can’t remember. Can you, _cara_? It was something romantic, set in Rome, but it wasn’t filmed there, anyone could see that. Why aren’t you dressed, Raymond?’

‘Er…’ Ray cast about him. ‘Benny was changing the washers on the taps –’

‘There was an accident with the plumbing?’ The three of them looked at the kitchen sink, which was obviously functioning for Ray had just filled the coffee jug. There was no evidence of any water where it shouldn’t have been.

Francesca kept restlessly chewing at her lip. Mrs Vecchio shook her head and began setting out the best coffee cups.

The wolf slipped in, and headed for his bowl of dry food. ‘Good afternoon, Mrs Vecchio, Francesca.’ Fraser was standing in the doorway, tall and handsome, a perfectly innocent and cheerful expression on his face. Fully and neatly dressed, except for one detail. His shirt was buttoned crooked.

Ray and Francesca both noticed this, and turned to each other. And, seeing Ray’s chagrined expression, his sister burst out laughing. ‘Caught!’ she declared. ‘Caught badly.’ Apparently it had been humour, not jealousy or anger, that had caused her unrest.

Ray sat down at the table – carefully – and hid his head in his hands. ‘Oh God.’

‘Hello, Benton,’ Mrs Vecchio said. She had placed four cups on the table. ‘You two boys,’ she continued with a hint of exasperation. ‘When are you going to stop sneaking around behind my back, like a pair of teenagers?’

‘Oh, Ma,’ Ray pleaded.

‘I’m sorry I have tried to mislead you, Mrs Vecchio.’

She was looking at her son, waiting for him to say something. Ray sighed. He really should try to do this properly, as he should have done at the start. Standing, he walked over to Fraser, brought him further into the room, holding his hand. Diefenbaker was watching them with some interest. ‘Ma, you know Benny. He and I are – He’s my –’

‘Boyfriend?’ Francesca supplied in amusement. She sat down at the table, curling one leg on the chair under her.

Ray grimaced. ‘No.’

‘The love of your life?’

‘God, Francesca. Not in public, he isn’t.’ 

‘Lover.’

‘Yeah. He’s my lover.’ Ray ran a hand back through his hair. ‘I’m sorry you caught us like this –’

‘It’s your house, _caro_. You can do what you like in it.’

‘Ma, don’t say things like that. So what if my father was a chauvinist extraordinaire, and left the place to me. It’s _our_ home.’

‘Yes, it is,’ Francesca agreed. She flashed Ray a cheeky smile. ‘You do what you like in it, Raymond.’

Mrs Vecchio said, ‘Shall I pour you a cup of coffee, Benton?’

‘Yes, thank you kindly.’ The man did not, however, seat himself at the table when Ray did. Fraser stood alone and drew himself up even taller. The wolf sat at his feet. They made quite a noble tableau. ‘There’s something I should tell you, Mrs Vecchio – I’m sorry, but my intentions towards your son are completely honourable.’

‘You’re _sorry?’_ Ray and Francesca chorused in disbelief. Even the wolf growled enquiringly. 

‘Your mother may prefer this to be a passing infatuation. That would eventually leave you free, Ray, to settle down, marry and raise children.’ 

Having poured the coffee, Mrs Vecchio joined her own offspring sitting at the table. ‘You think I don’t have enough grandchildren already, Benton? I’m afraid that Francesca intends to give me more.’ 

Francesca commented, ‘Well, I guess that just leaves settling down and marrying. Right, Ray?’ 

There was a significant silence. Ray found himself to be the centre of attention. He grinned, figuring he couldn’t have set this up better himself. Fraser was still standing there, apparently feeling a little out of place, as if he’d like to have his hat in his hands. ‘What do you say, Benny?’ Ray asked. ‘Here, with my family around me, I guess I’m proposing to you.’

A pause, a slight shuffle of discomfort. But then the Mountie said firmly and clearly, ‘I guess I’m accepting you, Ray.’

The cop found himself grinning unashamedly. His sister hugged him, apparently both amused and delighted. His mother said, ‘Sit down, Benton, and drink your coffee before it gets cold.’ Diefenbaker barked. They were home.

♦


End file.
